For five days the little band of Roundheads held out against the strong force of Cavaliers, and they were fully prepared for a long siege, when, to their surprise, they saw the enemy beat a hurried retreat. In a short time they knew the cause. A strong Parliamentary force was advancing to the relief of Nottingham Castle.
For his good defence of the castle, Parliament ratified the appointment made by the citizens, and promoted Colonel Hutchinson to be governor of the town as well as of the castle.
Unable to obtain the castle by force of arms, the Royalists now tempted Colonel Hutchinson, by offering him any terms he might name, if he would surrender it and join their party. These attempts to suborn him he ignored, and held the castle for the Parliamentary party until peace was declared, and he was able to return with his wife and children to his ruined home at Owthorpe. In the meanwhile, Lucy Hutchinson was anxious concerning her brother, Sir Allen Apsley, who had held Barnstaple for the king as gallantly as her husband had held Nottingham Castle for the Parliament. He was a marked man, but Colonel Hutchinson used his now great influence to obtain immunity from molestation for the gallant Cavalier.
Until the death of Cromwell, Lucy Hutchinson and her husband lived very happily with their children at their rebuilt Owthorpe home. But immediately after that event troubles began. The Royalists, hoping to bring about a restoration of monarchy, were eager to obtain arms, and planned a raid on Owthorpe; but their designs were repeated to Lucy Hutchinson by a boy who overheard the conspiracy, and when the robbers arrived they were speedily put to flight.
As the prospects of a Restoration became greater, Lucy Hutchinson grew alarmed for the safety of her husband, who was one of the men who had signed the death-warrant of Charles I. The friends of the exiled king had promised him pardon and preferment if he would become a Royalist, but this he had firmly declined to do.
On May 29, 1660, Charles II. was restored to the throne, and little mercy could be expected from him by those who had signed his father's death-warrant. Some of Colonel Hutchinson's friends urged him to follow Ingoldsby's example, and declare that Cromwell had held his hand and compelled him to sign it, but he rejected this advice with the greatest indignation.
In a terrible state of anxiety Lucy Hutchinson applied to her brother for assistance and advice. Sir Allen Apsley was naturally in high favour at court, where his gallant fight for Charles I. was well known, and he was glad of an opportunity to help the brother-in-law who had protected him in time of danger. Moreover, there was another reason why he was anxious to help Colonel Hutchinson—he, Sir Allen, had recently married his sister.
Sir Allen Apsley worked exceedingly hard to obtain his brother-in-law's pardon, and at last he had the joy of telling his sister that her husband's name was inserted in the Act of Oblivion, and his estates unconditionally freed to him.
Great was Lucy Hutchinson's joy at the pardon of her husband, and she looked forward to spending the remainder of their days in peace at their beloved Owthorpe. Alas! this was not to be. There were many Royalists who were highly displeased at Colonel Hutchinson's receiving a pardon, and they determined to ruin him. Very conveniently they discovered, or said that they had discovered, a Puritan plot for a rising, and that Colonel Hutchinson was one of the conspirators. As far as Colonel Hutchinson was concerned the story was utterly untrue, but, nevertheless, on the strength of it, he was arrested for treason, carried to London and placed in the Tower. After ten months in the Tower, during which his wife visited him regularly, he was removed to Sandown Castle, where, in a damp cell against the walls of which the sea washed, he contracted ague. Lucy Hutchinson implored the governor to be permitted to share her husband's prison, but he refused, and treated both her and him with brutality.
Sir Allen Apsley, hearing of the treatment accorded to his brother-in-law, used his influence to bring about a change in his condition, but the alteration came too late, and he died on September 11, 1664. Lucy Hutchinson was not present when he died, but the message he sent to her was:—'Let her, as she is above other women, show herself on this occasion a good Christian, and above the pitch of ordinary minds.'